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At a time when many businesses were tightening their belts by, for example, furloughing people amid unprecedented uncertainty, Dixons Carphone Warehouse wasn’t swayed from its very different approach, which involved furloughing nobody. Instead, it ploughed ahead with a rebrand – which perhaps, inauspiciously, was set to take place around the time the pandemic hit – and stayed what Paula Coughlan, Chief People Officer at the electric and telecommunications retailer, terms “laser focussed” on developing its people, by keeping all of them employed, and allowing them to further embed schemes which, in their words, championed amazing customer service. This stand out pandemic approach culminated with a pay rise of nine percent for all customer-facing staff earlier this year, which saw a total of 12,000 customer-facing colleagues have seen their hourly pay go from an average of £8.88 per hour to an average of £9.72 per hour, aligning it with the current rates outlined by The Living Wage Foundation. Furthermore, the company is investing nearly £25m in training, wellbeing and reward programmes for colleagues, to provide them with skills for life. happy colleagues create happy customers… What Coughlin said at the time of the announcement: “We’re investing heavily in our colleagues,
